Beyond Colors

The start

       The skies are dull orange, the clouds a vivid green and the rays of sun bright red. Everything seems to be overamplified ... the colors, the sounds and even my sight. It always starts this way, I awake in my bedroom, my regular mundane bedroom that usually is decorated in light pink and white but now it seems different. Everything is distorted, the colors so bright they hurt my eyes and the smell of coffee so strong I can practically taste it. My dreams always start in this bizarre way... I wake up in my own room except this isn't my room it just looks like it. I glance down at my hands and flex them involuntarily. My hands seem brighter displaying an orangish color that seems to be almost neon. I sit on the edge of the bed and look down at my sleep shorts. Their color hasn't changed from the regular purple except they also seem to be brighter. I always wake up this way and have no idea what to do, this dream seems so real yet everything in it seems too bizarre to even compare it to reality. I walk around my room touching everything and looking outside the window at my city, New York City looking very much like it usually is except it's covered in these extravagant colors. I sigh and pinch my own cheeks.

"Come on, wake up now" I mumble to myself. Just as I start to pinch hard enough to start to feel pain or what my brain perceives as pain in a dream, I hear footsteps behind me.

"I was told you would be coming" says the tall lady that almost scared me to death when she entered my room. Her voice is smooth, like a violin playing a cord endlessly. Her features are beautiful, with dark skin and slender features. Her dress is blue and went all the way to the floor like an extravagant blue wedding dress. 

"Umm" I mumble "I'm sorry, I don't know you. What are you doing in my apartment?"

The women sighs and looks around the room "Well you invited me silly, don't you remember?"

As soon as I reach for my phone subconsciously to call the police a familiar face enters my room and stops behind her. The women I recognize and love is Nora, or at least a modified black haired version of her. Her slender hands grasp the other woman's shoulder and she asks her "what's wrong? are we not going?" she quickly glances at me "Olivia, you're not even dressed yet..." 

She eyes me up and down and frowns at my obvious lack of knowledge about what is going on. She walks up to me, my best friend for years except she looks so different here. As she steps closer, she grabs my hands and squeezes' it once "Are you okay Olivia? You seem off..." she says

Just as I'm about to formulate any sort of answer an alarm goes off making me jump awake in my bedroom. This time it's my real bedroom, everything is in place, the colors are normal except for the loud alarm that seems to be going off and the repetitive knocks that are coming from my front door. 

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck" I whisper to myself as I walk to my kitchen and try to open the minimal glass squares that my complex likes to call windows. It seems I burned the warm water I was warming up earlier in the morning before I accidently went back to sleep. I quickly grab the hot kettle with a towel and place it in the corner. Smoke has covered most of my apartment at this point, but there isn't much I can do. I hurry to the door to find a petrified Nora in my entrance 

"What the hell is going on? You're not answering your cell and there seems to be an alarm going off in your building!" she yells 

I quickly grab her and pull her inside closing the door behind her

"Come on" I say "Lets go to the fire escape and let all this smoke leave the apartment before the fire department shows up

Nora drops her bag on the entrance and follows me to my room, the only room that has a decent sized window that goes to the fire escape stairs. 

As soon as we exit, we both breathe in the 'fresh' air of New York city. I sit down and she stands while looking at the building that stands next to mine. Nora is usually a very quiet shy person. She is what I like to call an amazing quiet puppy. She has all the qualities of a timid person, but once she get's to know you her energy goes to the maximum crazy level real quick. The Nora that is standing next to me is my Nora, the Nora that I met in College as a freshman. She's my best friend and will always be. It was in sophomore year of college that she met the love of her life, Ranjit. Ever since then the three of us have been inseparable, even with me as their third wheel. She stands straight and pulls a lighter closer to her face to light her cigarette

"That's a disgusting habit, you will burn your beautiful red hair one day" I state

Nora just shrugs and looks away as she exhales the smoke. I can't blame her for being stressed all the time, she is perusing her PhD in Psychology and she has to deal with a lot. 

"Soo..." she starts "what happened this time?" she asks

I sigh and look away 

"Nightmares, huh?" she asks again

I nod and grab on to the rails "I wouldn't call them nightmares" I say "just incredibly confusing dreams that I can't seem to wake up from. I've put four alarms this week and I can't seem to even hear them when I'm dreaming"

She nods "This has been going on for so many years, Olivia, I feel like you should go to a sleep clinic or something. You can't live life perpetually tired... I'm worried about you" she says

I nod completely dismissing her idea. I have tried clinics and medication but they just seem to amplify the dreams and make them harder for me to wake up

 Nora puffs out smoke and put out her cigarette, She grabs the tip and points at the window with her free hand "Walk me to Class?" she asks "Ranji is probably waiting for us at the coffee shop

I smile just hearing his name "has he popped the question yet?" I say wiggling my eyebrows

"No, but honestly what we have is more than beautiful... I never want to rush him" she says

I nod and get inside the apartment behind her. Ranjit and Nora are a beautiful couple that make me believe in love. Ever since their first kiss, they can't seem to see other people besides each other.  I follow Nora inside and look her up and down. She is dressed in all beige blouse and dress pants paired with black heels. I smile and wiggle my eyebrows at her which means 'you look beautiful in case he pops the question, huh?' to which she only rolls her eyes. I on the other hand dress a little more casually considering I don't have to go teach a class to undergraduates like she has to. I pull on skinny jeans and a black sweater to go with my beige coat and beige heels. 

"Come on" Nora says "lead the way"